Numerical investigation on implication of innovative hydrogen strut injector on performance and combustion characteristics in a scramjet combustor

Abstract

Abstract A detailed numerical analysis on a scramjet combustor is carried out by introducing an innovative shaped strut in place of the conventional strut. The design of newly added strut aids in generating intense vorticity which helps in efficient mixing of fuel and oxidizer. The air from the isolator enters the combustor at Mach 2.0, whereas fuel enters from the trailing edge of the strut sonically. In this study the flow dynamics with finite volume approach on commercial software Ansys-Fluent 20.0 to solve the two-dimensional Reynolds average Navier Stokes equation (RANS) with compressible fluid flow by considering the density-based solver with SST k-ε turbulent model. The species transport model with volumetric reaction and finite rate/eddy dissipation turbulence chemistry interaction is adopted to study the combustion phenomena and validated with the experimental results, and it is found that the interaction of the shear shock layer enhances the mixing rate by intensifying turbulence. The modified strut injector’s mixing efficiency is compared to the base strut and observed that with a 40% reduction in length, the modified strut injection technique exhibited a mixing efficiency of >95%. The combustion efficiency is then estimated streamwise, and the plot follows the same pattern as the mixing efficiency with fuel burns down completely when x = 150 mm for the modified strut whereas x = 200 mm for the base strut. This can compact the combustion chamber and increases the thrust-to-weight ratio. So, the innovative strut adopted can improvise the combustion efficiency.